Farm Okukuna — an urban permaculture farm in Goreangab, Windhoek (Namibia)
Windhoek (Goreangab), Namibia · Operator: ウィントフック市(2021年6月に運営を引き継ぎ)。設立は同市・World Future Council・Eloolo Permaculture Initiative の3者
Overview
Started in 2018 on roughly three hectares of municipal land at Windhoek's north-western edge, next to the informal settlements of Goreangab. The point is to work out permaculture methods that survive Namibia's harsh dry climate and hand them to residents. It combines three things on one site — individual plots, a production centre making compost, seedlings and natural pest repellents, and a training centre — so it functions as an urban-agriculture training hub rather than just a garden.
Citizen participation
Residents of the informal settlement hold individual plots — 16 plot members in the years after it opened — and can take permaculture training run by the Eloolo Permaculture Initiative with South African permaculture practitioners. There is a masterclass programme for local agriculture graduates and a monthly open day where produce is sold. The stated aim is to work out and pass on how shack dwellers can grow food around their own homes.
Operating model
The City of Windhoek provides the land. Start-up funding came from the Liselotte Foundation, the UK's Waterloo Foundation and the Southern African Innovation Support Fund (SAIS, which paid for an 18-month "Living Permaculture" project). It earns income by making "Okukuna SPICE" compost, sold through retailers including Agrigro and the Green Market in Klein Windhoek. In June 2021 the World Future Council stepped back and the city took over running it.
Impact
Residents who trained there have started growing at home and gone on to teach neighbours. UNDP Namibia's "Build Back Better" urban agriculture project, funded by the government of Japan, has used it as the training base in Goreangab for composting and summer/winter vegetable growing, including methods built around scrap materials such as old tyres. Since the 2021 handover it has continued as a municipal service.
Land tenure
Municipal land owned by the City of Windhoek, which has run the farm itself since June 2021.
Crops
- ほうれん草
- ビーツ
- にんじん
- ハーブ
Scale
30,000 m² — 市が提供した約3ヘクタール。個人区画の菜園、堆肥・苗・自然農薬をつくる生産センター、パーマカルチャーの研修センターからなる。
Sources(2)
This entry is compiled from the public sources, official sites and research below.
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